TIGERVILLE, S.C. -- Notre Dame came up empty in its bid to close out the season with a winning record, as the Falcons ran into a buzz saw in the Crusaders of North Greenville University.  NGU won its seventh straight game, beating NDC, 62-0. (Box)

North Greenville (9-2) dominated, not punting once and compiling more than 700 yards (720) of total offense.  For Notre Dame (5-6), the loss closes out the program's “sophomore season;” the defeat was NDC's fourth in a row.

The No. 23 (D2Football.com) Crusaders scored early and often and their defense held Notre Dame to just five first downs and 78 total yards for the game. Senior quarterback Willy Korn completed his first 14 passes in the game en route to a 20-of-23, 279-yard, four-TD afternoon.  Korn had plenty of support from an NGU rushing attack that cranked out 427 yards on 56 carries (7.6-yard average). Teryan Rucker (93 yards) and Kyle Peck (91) paced the North Greenville ground attack. NGU's balanced bunch scored eight touchdowns in the contest.  Four were on running plays, four were on passes, and eight different players scored the eight TDs.

A stout NGU defense forced seven three-and-outs and stifled the Falcons at every turn.  Notre Dame was held to a 1-of-11 mark on third downs, while the Crusaders went 9-of-13 on third downs and 2-for-2 on fourth down conversions.  The ability to stop Notre Dame and move the chains when they had the ball led the Crusaders to an overwhelming time of possession in the game -- NGU mustered a final time of 43 minutes-11 seconds.  The Crusaders held the ball for more than 10 minutes in all four quarters.  They finished with 427 rushing yards and 293 yards through the air.

The victory for the ranked Crusaders marked their 15th in their last 17 games, dating back to last season.  The win also wrapped up a home-and-home sweep -- NGU downed NDC, 21-14, in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a year ago (Oct. 13, 2010).

Safety Spencer Krebs logged a program-record 15 tackles in the game, leading a weary Falcons defensive unit that was called on to defend 84 NGU plays from scrimmage.

“Things didn't go our way,” said Head Coach Adam Howard.  “But we'll grow from this experience.  It's not how we wanted to close out the season, but it doesn't diminish some important strides that this program took this season.”